Lianna Rebolledo Rape Victim Made Her Abortion Decision Based On Doctor’s Response

A 35-year-old woman was raped at the age of 12, and 23 years later, she says she doesn’t regret declining an abortion after learning she was pregnant.

Lianna Rebolledo was just 12 years old when she was brutally raped by two men at knife-point, and upon later learning she was pregnant, doctors suggested that she have an abortion. Rebolledo says she asked her doctor whether having an abortion would help ease her pain, and when he told her no, she decided she wanted to bring her baby into the world.

“If abortion wasn’t going to heal anything, I didn’t see the point,” Rebolledo explained. “I just knew that I had somebody inside my body. I never thought about who her biological father was. She was my kid. She was inside of me.”

The now-35-year-old says that having her daughter helped her to get past her suicidal thoughts and put things into an entirely different perspective.

“It was really hard, but just to see that little person telling me how happy she was that I gave her her life,” Rebolledo said. “When she said that — and she was only four years old when she told me: ‘Mommy thank you for giving me life’ — I realized that she was the one who gave me my life back.

“In my situation, two lives were saved,” Rebolledo continued. “I saved my daughter’s life, but she saved my life. Even though [the rape] was a very hard moment, if I had to go through that [again] just to know and to love my daughter, I would go through that again. She’s always been there for me. She’s the only person who has shown me a real love. And I always will be grateful.”